Jake Fielder, a poor dirt farmer, discovers Kate Geer, the saloon keeper, dead and the safe unlocked. He takes $300 but is immediately caught. Judge Warfield, a drunken disgrace, is sent for, but before he arrives, Jake is hanged at the behest of a ruthless politician/financier, John King. Judge Fielder is on the point of whitewashing the whole affair when his ethics are challenged by Jake's son Rob.